DMX - Damien Trilogy (1998-2001)

Dark Man X has plenty of tracks that could fit the bill for Halloween week, but I felt that his classic tale of him making a deal with the devil was the best choice.

The first verse opens with DMX lamenting his bad choices as a struggling rapper and wondering where his guardian angel is.  It's this point that the titular character pops up, promising him the world in return for some loyalty.  At this point X's desperation to succeed mixed with naivety sees him jump at the chance without thinking about it.  As the second verse goes on we hear Damien buttering DMX up nicely with cars, women and glory to the point that he's willingly pledging himself to Damien:

Got me pushing whips, taking trips across seas

Pockets stay laced, nigga I floss Gs

For that nigga I would bleed, give him my right hand

Now that I think about it, Yo, that's my man!

By the final verse, Damien starts calling in his favours, starting with X killing a few guys that Damien is beefing with... then some more... then some more.  DMX is ready to chill for a while but Damien isn't having it and keeps giving him more people to off, culminating in him telling X to kill one of his own friends

Aight fuck it, I'ma do it, who is it this time?

   Ayo remember that kid Sean you used to be with in '89

Naw that's my man

   I thought I was your man

But yo, that's my nigga!

  Hey, who's your biggest fan

  Either do it, or give me your right hand that's what you said

I see now, ain't nothin' but trouble ahead

X has eventually realised what he's got himself in for, but at this point it's too late and there's no way out and it's only gonna get worse.  

The song works brilliantly as a standalone song and it's a chilling story, but things get even darker in the sequels as Damien twists the knife even further and catches X in a vicious cycle of killing for him and then using those killings as leverage to make him do even more.

The Omen with Marilyn Manson is a particular standout for me and the instrumental on it is enough to give you bad dreams.  Easily the darkest of the three, here we see X determined to escape Damien's clutches but he keeps getting dragged back in by bad situations that probably wouldn't have occurred if he'd never met him in the first place.

By the third entry in the trilogy their relationship has become one of true hatred and is basically a back and forth showdown between the two leading to X turning to God to try and find a way out.

The story works on another level as a parallel to the typical gangster story we've seen in many movies, young guys getting dragged into the lifestyle for the promise of the glory without realising what they're sacrificing until it's much too late.  The more they try to escape, the worse it gets.

Method Man - Perfect World/Judgement Day (1998)

Starting off Halloween week with a double dose of Method Man, with the album opener and the apocalyptic title track off his second solo album, Tical 2000: Judgement Day.

The album was released in late 1998 and played heavily off the many theories going around that the world was going to end as we knew it as we joined the next millennium. The album intro has a new year's countdown that ends with an explosion to set the tone for what follows.

Perfect World is the first proper track on the album and Meth lays out the scene for us all to see over a creepy RZA beat. The picture he paints is horrible even though Meth's character sounds right at home. 

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about the track is that the more you examine the lyrics, the more you realise that he's not necessarily describing a far off land but that much of what he's talking about us going on in the streets today.

The intro to the title track which acts as a closer to the album is about a minute long and has the Ticallion Stallion growling some warnings of how civilisation collapsed with some disturbing groans in the background before he descends into horrible screams of "I like the death, I like the misery, I LIKE THIS WOOOOOORRRRLLLD!"
As the song kicks in proper with a futuristic instrumental co produced by Method Man & 4th Disciple, Meth lays out just how fragile society is and how easily it could fall into a nightmare scenario following a catastrophic event.

The video is available below and also well worth checking out for the apocalyptic imagery and Meth looking creepy as fuck!

Apollo Brown & Ras Kass - Blasphemy (2014) - First Impressions & Album Stream

I've been looking forward to this one dropping ever since it was announced since I'm a big fan of both artists.  Ras Kass has been floundering for probably the last ten years, but if anyone could get him back in his groove it would be Apollo.  On Trophies and Dice Game he showed that he can inject something amazing into veterans that have lost their way a little.  Anyone that's heard Soul On Ice - an album I consider to be like a West Coast Illmatic - and Rasassination knows what an inspired Ras Kass can do on the mic.

When the lead single H2O dropped my anticipation went from about an 8 to way off the scale.  This song is probably my favourite I've heard all year - the perfect sample from Apollo, the best verse I've heard from Rassy in years and a brilliant feature from Pharoahe Monch who sounds like he's still in his PTSD mind state mesh together so well.

Humble Pi was the first video released for Blasphemy and I was amazed that it was nearly on the same level as H2O, but could the rest of the album stack up?  It's now been released digitally and you can stream it in full below to find out for yourself.

I've only listened to it once, but first impressions tell me that this has definitely lived up to the hype.  I've never heard a bad beat from Apollo Brown, but I have to admit I was a little underwhelmed by his production last year on Ugly Heroes and The Brown Tape - they were still incredible but I didn't think they reached the heights of his previous work.  This year however with his instumental album .38 and now on Blasphemy he has definitely reached the high standards that his back catalogue set for him.  He reminds me a lot of DJ Premier, in that although his beats are amazingly varied you can tell it's an Apollo beat as soon as you hear it.  He's got a signature sound that no one else in the game is doing right now and he has a special talent for finding chemistry with the rappers he works with.

As I said, the album is available to buy digitally right now and physical copies are available for pre-order.  I strongly suggest you invest, because you'll grab yourself one of the strongest releases of the year.  Spread the word so that this doesn't also become one of the most slept on.

First listen standouts (other than the singles): How To Kill God, Roses, Animal Sacrifice, Francine, Bon Voyage

Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (1994)

Today I'm revisiting Nas' masterpiece debut Illmatic before I go to a showing of the movie about its creation "Time Is Illmatic".

In truth I could have picked any track off the album - every one is a 10/10 stone cold classic - but I've gone for the final track because I want to delve highlight Nas' performance a little bit.

The beat features a sample flip of Michael Jackson's Human Nature, but producer Large Professor does such a great job that while it has a familiar sound and nostalgic vibe, it also completely has its own identity. This probably makes the track the most accessible on the whole album, but don't think for a second that means that the lyrics are watered down.

Arguably this song features Nas' most technically impressive performance on Illmatic and even his while career. The way he flips multi-syllable rhyme patterns with a non-stop ridiculously smooth flow is incredible. It's this kind of rhyming that you imagine Big L, Eminem and the like took a lot of inspiration from.  The second verse is a particular standout:

The buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up
Not stories by Aesop, place your loot up, parties I shoot up
Nas, I analyze, drop a jew-el, inhale from the L
School a fool well, you feel it like braille
It ain't hard to tell, I kick a skill like Shaquille holds a pill
Vocabulary spills I'm Ill
plus Matic, I freak beats slam it like Iron Shiek
Jam like a tech with correct techniques
So analyze me, surprise me, but can't magmatize me
Scannin while you're plannin ways to sabotage me
I leave em froze like her-on in your nose
Nas'll rock well, it ain't hard to tell

The song is all about a young and hungry Nas desperate to show the world that he's the best to ever do it. One of my favourite lines in the history of hip hop makes a pretty strong case as Nas brags that he will not only stare Medusa right in the face, he'll turn the tables and get her stoned.


I drink Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell

After dropping this kind of debut, it's hard to argue with Nas' position as one of the greatest.

Dead Prez - Propaganda (2000)

When Dead Prez released their debut album Let's Get Free in 2000 they drew a lot of comparisons with Public Enemy for their politically charged lyrics and hard hitting instrumentals.  On the opening track of the album they refer to themselves as "Somewhere in between N.W.A. and P.E." which sums them up pretty well.  Sadly their career path wasn't quite as big of either of those groups, but for a short while at the turn of the millennium they introduced their ideals to a whole new generation of Hip Hop listeners with a string of singles unlike anything else on MTV at the time and in my opinion dropped a certified classic of an album.

One of the strongest cuts on the album is the bonus track Propaganda which was track 44 on the CD, following on from about 30 tracks of silence after the end of the main album.  The instrumental is a lot more peaceful than most on here, but the lyrics are anything but subdued.  The opening lines really set the tone for the rest of the verses:

You can't fool all the people all of the time
But if you fool the right ones then the rest will fall behind

M1 and Sticman ask their listeners to wake up and really think about what information they're being spoon fed by the government and the media rather than just believe everything that they're told as the truth.  They never get too far into weird conspiracy theories but they really do make you think.  It's a song that didn't get much recognition on release but it's well worth revisiting 14 years later as it's still as relevant today.

P.S. Listen to the album if you haven't already!

Public Enemy - Night of the Living Baseheads (1988)

This classic anti-crack anthem off Public Enemy's world renowned second album "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back" is our track for the day.  Using the double meaning of Base/Bass as a base (sorry) for the song is a great touch.

Fittingly the beat absolutely booms out of your speakers with one of the best instrumentals on the album as Chuck D lays down three witty verses that carry a serious message about the problems that crack was causing in the community at that time.

In some of the hardest hitting lines, Chuck relays an anecdote about a former rapper who steals everything from a man living out of a car in order to fund his habit

My man Daddy-O once said to me
He knew a brother who stayed all day in his jeep
And at night he went to sleep
And in the mornin' all he had was the sneakers on his feet
The culprit used to jam and rock the mike, yo
He stripped the jeep to fill his pipe
And wander around to find a place
Where they rocked to a different kind of...BASS

PE really were revolutionaries in socially conscious Hip Hop and given they were one of the biggest acts in the 80s it's great that they used their stage to say something worthwhile.  We can see their influence today as some of the biggest artists like Kendrick Lamar and Macklemore use their platform to tackle substance abuse amongst other issues.

Michael Jackson feat. Notorious B.I.G. - This Time Around (1995)

Bit of a treat for you today as two of the greatest of all time hook up for a collaboration on MJ's half Greatest Hits, half new music album from 1995, HIStory.

While it won't make many best MJ songs lists that's more a testament to the strength of his catalogue than a diss to this song. The production sounds a bit like something off Dangerous and would work perfectly well as a solo song, but then Big comes along at the end with a smooth as butter verse to cap things off.

Rest in peace to two of the best to ever do it. Happy Sunday.

The Roots - Can't Stop This (2006)

I was listening to Dilla's Donuts today and thought I might share something off that, but to be honest I feel that it's much better enjoyed in a full sitting rather than in bits and pieces.  So instead here's a classic number off The Roots' 2006 album Game Theory.

Released six months after J Dilla's untimely death, the crew decided to use the closing track of the album to pay tribute to the legendary producer.  Over one of Jay Dee's most beautiful 'Donuts', Black Thought raps his ass off in a way that I'm sure Dilla would have been proud of.

After the beat breaks down the song closes with a stream of people paying their own tributes as the song fades out.

An amazing song off a superb album.

RZA - Tragedy (1997)

Despite being the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan and having handled all the production duties on the unmatched sequence of classic albums between '93 and '97, The RZA hadn't taken centre stage as a solo artist until this video.   He'd always shone on group songs as well as features (4th Chamber a particular standout) with one of the most unique voices in hip hop so he had a lot to live up to.

Luckily with Tragedy he totally delivered with some of the best verses of his career over a stunning oriental beat and a haunting rendition of a Eurythmics classic for the hook.  The opening lines of the first verse are a great example of that iconic Wu-Tang style that made them such a force in Hip Hop:

Yo, yo, assassination, vaccination, poor education
Infatuation with Satan with global nataion taxation
Fiberoptic microscopic biological germ
Mad Cow burger on the market, Captain of your starship

The song really set down a marker for 1997 and whet the appetite of the masses for the Clan's second album Wu-Tang Forever that would be released a few months later.

The video was something special in itself and if you watch it back now, you can see how much it influenced The Man With The Iron Fists - the movie that he directed 15 years later. 

Chance The Rapper & The Social Experiment - No Better Blues (2014)

Might as well kick this shit off with something fresh off the presses.

Chance the Rapper dropped this song out of nowhere today and it's been generating a lot of buzz.  A stark contrast to his last big release (Wonderful Everyday), No Better Blues finds Chance in an "I hate everything" kind of mood. Everyone will be able to relate to this song on some level - we've all had days like this - but the hook ("It don't get no better") implies that this is a more permanent state of mind for Chance and there'll be plenty that can relate to that too.

The whole track is soaked in irony - delivered in a light hearted fashion with some laugh-out-loud lines about hating smirking children and asparagus as well as deadpan lines that downright contradict themselves ("I hate racists, I hate white people"), there's a true sadness behind it too.  I can't imagine going through life with depression, but it touches so many and hopefully this song can really connect with them.

I feel like Chance is one of the only artists out right now that could release a song like this and I think that's why people are drawn to him so much.

Sorry to go against the grain of the lyrics, but I LOVE this song.